The one thing that people losing weight fear the most is the long plateau. That point where you suddenly cannot lose an ounce, despite not changing anything about what you have been doing.
Well, it’s happened to me, finally. After almost 7 months of consistent losing, I am not moving an inch. It’s been about 10 days and no sign of it changing.
The big hump preceding the plateau is my sad and stressful trip to Winnipeg in the first half of August. I did not cheat all that much and that showed when I got back with very fast recovery to my weight loss curve. But … once back on the curve I completely stalled. I’m at 63 pounds lost with about that amount left to go to approach my goal. I’m just under half way to my official goal, but the real point is that I have to do this all over again when my body is done having its rest.
So what to do? Should I panic? Should I get depressed and eat everything in sight (been there, done that.)
No … I should just keep doing what I am doing. After all, I was quite clear once I stumbled onto the controlled carb – low glycemic way of eating that I really think I will live this way permanently. One thing that did change in August was my total absence from the gym. I must get my head straight and get back there in order to avoid the muscle loss that slows everything down – and indeed that may be the factor that caused this plateau in the first place.
The nice thing is that I am stuck at a point where my waist is about 10 inches smaller than it was at the start. You can imagine how nice it is to be in so much smaller a wardrobe. So I can at least enjoy this late summer and fall and can look forward to a winter where I can wear clothing that has a decidedly un-tent-like cut :-)
Patience … it is all you need. The weight will come off eventually and this is a life style, not a diet. Shanti, shanti …
Update: Several days later and the dam breaks …
Typical of a plateau that is based partially in water retention (in the last week I had hot and sour soup, Pho twice, and Laksa once.) Add that all up and you get a lot of sodium that takes days to clear. And when it does, you drop a couple of pounds seemingly overnight. Patience …
